The crane for the crane for the crane

Monday, 13 February 2012 19:09

No, not the bird type of crane but the mechanical type. In any city or large town in the UK at any time there are cranes. The skyline seems to require them, even if they are idle because that particular project has faltered because of money. Birmingham is no exception.

Cranes on the skyline at Blackfriars Rail Bridge, River Thames London

There are waterway cranes on the Cut too, if you keep your eyes open. But over the last few days in Birmingham there has been a change .......

The crane that has stood high over the new Library of Birmingham for the last few months is no longer there. 

Back of Library and crane one evening

It took a crane to take this one down, another crane to take the second crane down and now the third one is almost gone!

Crane that took the crane, that took the crane down

We have seen cranes in Oxford, Manchester, Lancaster, Banbury and Abingdon, to name but a few places we have been on our continuous journey around the country on narrowboat Epiphany.  

Of course there are still old cranes around Birmingham too - the ones that were used to transfer cargo from narrowboat to wharf - sadly only memorials nowadays and even removed from their original position by the canal. We have seen this "preservation" in other places too sometimes just a bit of a crane left, such as the one on the K and A at Burbage.

Burbage crane being dismantled in 2007

A model and the crane restoration is to be seen at Claverton Pumping Station. It will soon to be restored to its original home, we hope, but there was no sign of this in May 2011 so who knows when it will arrive!

Crane at Cambrian Wharf a few days ago

This has been rather a strange blog, developed from the crane that is no longer - surprising what one can find to say when "stir crazy"! So next time you approach a town or city crane your neck and see how many cranes you can spot!